Spider-girl begins
by great treasure
Summary: Vanessa Thorne has always had everything she needed, money, brains and power. but when her parents murder returns to New York, she takes on a reponsibility she may not be ready for. This is the begining of a Hero
1. Prologue

Eleven year old Vanessa Thorne was sitting up in her bed. It was already 11 PM and she was wide awake. She hated when she couldn't fall asleep, it annoyed her. She tossed and turned before she decided flip on her thermal vision. Her ability to see bodies of temperature was a mutation that had only shown itself a few months ago. She could switch her vision from normal to thermal at will, with almost no effort. She smiled as her vision was overtaken by a blanket of green. She turned in the direction of her parent's room to see the two figures as people-shaped blobs of red and orange. She flipped back and forth between her visions, bored out of her mind and wishing her brother was there-he always stayed up late and would let her stay up with him. Unfortunately, he was away at college. She saw one of the bodies sit up and start out the door. She flipped back to normal vision as her mother came in. "hey sweetie, I just thought I'd check on you." She said quietly, sitting on the bed next to her. Vanessa cuddled up next to her mother, putting her head in her lap. "Thanks mom. I can't sleep. She mumbled. The older woman stroked her head. Vanessa knew she was supposed to hate being babied by her mother, but as far as she was concerned, she was never too old to let her mom stroke her head. "You can't sleep? We can't have that now can we? How can we fix it?" she asked quietly.

"The Lobster Quadrille." The young girl suggested. Her mother rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think you're too old for the Lobster Quadrille?" she asked bemusedly. "I'm _never _too old for the quadrille." She said, curling in closer still to her mother. The older woman smiled, kissing her daughter on the head as she started singing.

_Would you walk a little faster?' said the whiting to the snail_

_There's a porpoise close behind us and he's treading on my tail!_

_See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!_

_They are waiting on the shingle-will you come and join the dance?_

_Will you won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?_

_Will you won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?_

Vanessa was already beginning to nod off as she sang.

_You can really have no notion how delightful it will be_

_When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters out to sea!_

_But the snail replied too far, too far! And gave a look askance-_

_Said he thanked the whiting kindly but he would not join the dance._

_Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance._

_Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance._

_What matters it how far we go? His scaly friend replied._

_There is another shore you know, upon the other side._

_The further off from England, the nearer is to France,_

_So turn not pale beloved snail, but come and join the dance. _

_Will you won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?_

_Will you won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?_

When she finally finished the song, she saw that her daughter was almost totally asleep. "Did that help?" she asked quietly. The girl nodded quietly.

"I'm glad. You know your father and I love you right? And no matter what happens, we will always love you, and everything we did, we thought of you before we did it. Do you know that?"

"Yeah, I do." She said sleepily, unsure why her mother was talking like that.

"Good. And remember, we would never leave you if we had the choice but sometimes, things happen that we can't control. Good night sweetie, we love you." She smiled as she saw that her daughter had already fallen asleep.

Vanessa Woke up late the next morning, and when she did, she when downstairs to watch TV. She felt a shiver down her spine as she passed her parents room. She looked at their door and shrugged it off-there was no reason to worry. She spent the morning watching cartoons and eating cereal. She started to worry as time went on-it was nearly twelve and her parents still weren't down yet.

She decided to go up and check on them. She peeked inside their room quietly. "Hey mom? Dad? Are you guys alright?" she said just loud enough to be heard. She felt like there was a large rock in her stomach and the feeling refused to go away. "Mom, dad? Seriously are you alright?" she flipped the lights on and she went speechless. Her parents' bed was caked in blood, and there were words written in blood on the wall above them. She ran to them, tears streaming from her eyes. She shook them furiously, cold blood coating her arms and hands. Their throats were slit and there were cuts all over their bodies. Their eyes were wide and empty, and their arms were around each other. "Mom! Dad! Please! You can't be dead! You can't be you just can't!" she kept shaking them, screaming in a sickening combination of grief and fear until she dissolved into a sobbing heap, her head resting on her mother' bloody chest, too shaken and crushed to keep going. "Please…Please."


	2. Enter Vanessa

Four years later…

Vanessa sat on her school bus, chatting to the boy next to her. They were talking about the latest headline from the daily bugle-how Spider-Man had busted a burglary ring. She loved Spider-Man, as far as she was concerned, he was the coolest hero out there,-him and Iron Man, but she just liked him for the armor.

The bus pulled up at Mid-Town high and she got out. She was rich enough to go to any school in New-York, but she came here because it was where her parents went. She was getting out her stuff for class when her best friend Haley came up to her. "Hey Van, I tried to call you last night, but you didn't answer." Haley was tall for her age and very attractive. She had been Vanessa' friend since preschool and could always be counted on when Vanessa needed her. "Sorry Haley, Sophie told me you called. I was a little pre-occupied last night." Haley smiled at her conspiratorially, "let me guess-in the church?"

"You know me so well. I was working on some new projects and I lost track of time. It wasn't important was it" Haley shook her head, sorely familiar with her friends' tendency to lose track of time. "Don't worry, it was nothing." She said, unbothered. Her smile turned into a grimace as she saw a figure walking up to them. Vanessa saw her face and knew immediately who could cause such a reaction. "Let me guess, Lily?" Haley nodded grimly and Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut, silently cursing her luck. "Hey dyke." Came her venomous greeting. Lily was a year older than them and looked down her nose at everyone she deemed 'unworthy' this included but was not limited to-Geeks, loners, homosexuals and anyone who rejected her extension of 'friendship.' Vanessa fit two out of four of those criteria, and she was far from a loner and while she liked researching technology, books as a whole bored her. "Hello Lily," Vanessa said in her sweetest voice, "what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be outside kicking puppies or at a maternity ward somewhere pinching the new babies?" she asked politely. "Oh, I've always got time to remind you of what a _sicko pervert _you are Thorne." She sneered. Vanessa took the last of her books out of her locker and turned to give her witty retort. "Oh please, we all know why you pick on me the way you do." There was a crowd forming around them as Lily spoke back. "And why is that pray tell?" she asked irately. Vanessa grinned and started speaking to the rest of the crowd as well as Lily, clearly enjoying the attention as always. It's obvious that you're just picking on me because you are _wildly _in love with me, and either don't have the guts to come out, or you know that I could never go for a _bimbo _like you." There was a chorus of "oohs" and "burns" from the audience as Lily glared at her hatefully. "How dare you try and suggest that I'm a freak like _you!" _she snapped. Vanessa looked at the girl in mock shock, "I would _never _suggest you're a freak like me; I am a one of a kind freak thank you very much." She quipped expertly, calling forth several laughs from the crowd of students surrounding her. "Shut up you disgusting bitch, I could never be attracted to someone like you!" Vanessa was clearly enjoying the bullies scorn and irritation, going in for the kill. "Oh just get over yourself! Admit that you're in love with me and we can move past all this. I'm not saying I'd go out with you or even be seen with you-I do have a reputation to keep and you're not really my type-but I'm also not saying I wouldn't meet you behind the bleachers for the odd make-out session. I'll go with you now if you want." Lily shot the dark haired girl a death glare, "I swear, someday I'll make sure you get what's coming to you." She growled as she stormed off. "What! Is that it? You're usually more fun!" Vanessa yelled after her. She was being honest too-usually Lily was far more effective when she chose to attack her. Something was wrong. As the crowd dispersed, Haley congratulated her. "I love watching you put that bitch in her place-you should do it more often."

"Probably, but I really can't be bothered sometimes. But did you catch that weird smell on her?" she asked. She had learned that her powers were not merely limited to her eyes-her senses and physical abilities were far more developed than most normal humans. "No, I didn't catch a weird smell on her; I don't have your nose. Who cares anyway, it was probably just some new perfume or something." Vanessa wasn't so sure of this, but decided to shelve the thought when she saw the time. "Come on, we're gonna be late for class." She said eagerly, pulling Haley by the wrist. Her friend was not as eager as her, "honestly Van, its just science." She grumbled.

"Firstly, there's no such thing as 'just science' and secondly, the bossman said that we'd be doing an experiment on electromagnets this morning- and knowing him, it's going to be awesome." Haley rolled her eyes, hurrying to keep up with her friend. "Honestly Van, if I didn't know better I'd say you had a crush on him, he can do no wrong as far as you're concerned." They stopped in front of the classroom, as usual the first to arrive. "He's an awesome teacher. And there's just something about him. I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something about him that sets him apart-I probably _would_ have a crush on him if he were a woman."

"If who were a woman?" came a voice. They turned to see their teacher next to them. "Oh, hey sir." Haley said, awkward from the subject of her friends' last statement. Vanessa had no such feelings "Hey bossman, we were just talking about you." She said unashamedly. "Are we still doing that experiment?" she asked. He winked at them as he unlocked the classroom. "I said we were didn't I?"

"Sweet! See what I mean, Haley, this man is awesome." She said with delight. The brown-haired man smiled at the girls as he stepped into the class, "it took over a decade but the impossible _has _happened; Peter Parker is now awesome."

After school, Vanessa convinced Haley to come home with her to see what she was working on. When they entered the lobby, they were greeted by the doorman with the usual cheer. "Hello Van, Haley. How was school?" the young man asked. "It was alright. How was work?" The man shrugged,

"It was alright. I went for a ride on my jet pack, picked up Madonna for a booty call, same old same old." The girls laughed and he grinned as they came in.

"Sounds pretty good to me Don," Haley chuckled, "take care of yourself." She said as they went to the elevators. "Where did you find that guy? He's the coolest doorman I've ever met." She laughed as they went into the elevator. Vanessa swiped a passkey into a card reader next to the buttons as the doors slid shut. "Without a doubt. He's hilarious." She grinned, as the elevator began its ascent. In a few moments, the elevator stopped and the doors opened to Vanessa' sacred sanctum-the church.

The church was the top floor of the apartment building. Her brother Eric let her design it how she wanted. Three-quarters of the floor was used for various exercises and physical training-her mutation had also endowed her with physical ability that outstripped most Olympic athletes and she made a point of honing that gift. She called this part the house of body. The other quarter was used for her inventions and research. It contained a state of the art private computer and several workbenches piled with spare parts, tools and miscellaneous blueprints-she called that area the house of mind. The area was mostly metallic grey with a several pictures and paintings along the walls. Her brother let her make it a few months after their parents died, giving her somewhere to go whenever she needed a place think and be creative. The only way up to the church was with a keycard, and only she, Haley, and her brother Eric had one. As she led her friend to the house of mind, she smiled to herself, eager to see her friends face when she saw what she was working on. "So what did you drag me here for anyway?" the brunette asked. Vanessa grinned, brushing her shoulder-length hair back from her eyes. She pushed open the door to the house of mind and strode to the nearest workbench. "You are going to _love_ this."

She picked up what appeared to be a bulky black wrist brace and put it on. "Come on, we need to go to the gym for the demonstration." She said, still grinning.

"The gym? Why?"

"Trust me, the last time I tried this in a small space…things got ugly." And with that, she made her way to the house of body.

They were in the area where she practiced martial arts. It was a wide open space with a high ceiling like the rest of the floor. "Okay, you stay here at the door, watch and be amazed." She smirked as she strode to the middle of the room. Haley leaned against the doorframe expectantly, unsure what to expect. Vanessa took a breath to steady herself, excited that she would finally show her latest creation to her best friend. When she was steadied, she threw out her arm and hit a button on the side of her index finger. A small disk the size of her palm shot out of the back of the gauntlet. Haley jumped as it happened, making her friends grin spread even wider. "That's not even the best part." She said giddily. The disk was attached to a wire on the gauntlet. After it had stretched to about two meters, she flicked her wrist and the entire wire responded almost automatically, following in the direction she flicked. Before it had snapped taught, she flicked again and it responded. She did this several times, making the disc and wire writhe like a snake. Haley stared in awe at her friend. Vanessa for her part, was enjoying herself greatly. It was like dancing. This was only the prototype but it still felt good to use it. She hit the button again and flicked her wrist back, causing the disk to retract back into its slot. "Well, what do you think?" she asked, "Awesome right?" she laughed, taking off the glove to give Haley a high-five "Hell yeah it's awesome! How did you come up with that?"

"I saw spider-man swinging through the city and I thought 'I wanna be able to do that.' From there I started working on a way to do it. I could have tried to make some form of adhesive fluid, but as you know, advanced chemistry is not my forte." They started to make their way back to the lab. "Yeah, I remember."

"Good. So since that was out, I decided to go mechanical. I'm going to add some pinchers to grasp things with when I've worked the technology more." Haley nodded, glad her friend hadn't shot into techno-babble yet. "But how did you do all that flick-y stuff?"

"I am glad you asked. You see, it's this new thing I happened to be working on. I've found a way to make the wire respond to motions at the base and transmit a resulting motion that I've pre-set, it's still a little slow, but this is only the prototype; it'll get better."

"Better? From where I'm standing that thing looks pretty damn perfect." Vanessa smiled at her friends praise, "Thanks, but it can still be better. That's the other reason I asked you here, I need you to work some of your computer magic, I'm not as good with programming as you." She finished as they got to the house of mind and put the gauntlet back on the bench. "Sure, you know I'd always help you, and the chance to work on something like this? That would be awesome. But there is one catch though." Vanessa raised her eyebrow at the girl.

"Oh really? And what would that be?" she asked playfully.

"You _have _to let me use that when we're done!" Haley said excitedly as they headed back to the labr. "Of course! I'll show you how." And with that, they got to work.

They spent the rest of the afternoon working on programming the glove. Haley stayed for dinner but left soon after. "See ya Van, I've gotta go visit my grandma in London so I'll be gone for the week-try not to burn down the city while I'm gone, I know what you're like when you get bored." She said as she stepped into the elevator. "I make no promises!" the short-haired girl laughed as the doors closed. She took the stairs down to her apartment. She flopped down onto the sofa and turned on the TV. She flipped through the channels until she came to the news channel.

"Breaking news! There has been a rash of killings in New York believed to be the work of a serial killer that fled from the city several years ago." A lump formed in her stomach. "No, no it can't be, it's just a coincidence." She said anxiously. The report went on. "The killer is also known to have ties to organized crimes, committing assassinations across several states. It is unclear at this point if he is working for a group or on his own at this time." Vanessa wanted to change the channel, to go back to the bliss of her life, but something stopped her, a decision that changed her whole future. The television switched from the reporter to a picture of the crime scene. When she saw it, she felt like vomiting. The victim had been taken for an autopsy but the scene was still preserved. It was an alley, and written in blood on the alley wall was a word that had haunted her nightmares for years. Ozmandias.


	3. Legacy

A week later

Haley went to Vanessa' apartment after school when she didn't show up. She went up to search her apartment. When she didn't find her she took the elevator down to The Church. She went to the house of mind and found her hunched over a workbench. "Vanessa? I was worried about you. Why didn't you come to class today?" Vanessa didn't speak for several moments. "He's back." She said quietly, not looking up from what she was doing.

"Who's back? Your brother?" she asked, clearly seeing that her friend was in distress. "No, not my brother, _him, _Ozmandias." Haley gasped, remembering the name vividly. She rushed forward to hug Vanessa around her shoulders. "Oh, I'm so sorry Van, when did you hear? How did you hear?" she kept working, even with her friend hugging her. "I saw it on the news Friday the night you left." Haley noticed how stiff her friend was and let go, stepping back. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"No." The dark-haired girl answered. Haley took a moment to look around the room, noticing that there were several new things in the room. There were new blueprints on the computer, as well as several solid-looking black briefcases and boxes. She also took a look at what her friend was working on. It looked like she had moved on from her prototype gauntlet and had already created a pair of new ones. This worried Haley-her friend always threw herself into her work when she was upset. The new version was black and it was less like a brace and more like a proper glove. It was clear that direct questions wouldn't get her friend to open up, so she picked up the other gauntlet. "You really improved this thing. I didn't think you could do all this in one week." She noticed that the tips of the glove were pointed into hooked claws.

"Yeah, well I was almost ready for the next version and I had the designs being made already, I just made a few adjustments. All I need to do now is upload your programs and the new version is done."

"That's cool," she said, pulling up a seat next to Vanessa, "What's with the boxes and stuff?" she seemed to have finished with the gauntlet and put it down. "It's part of something I've been working on," She said, finally looking at her friend, "a new project." Haley knew Vanessa was hiding something-normally Vanessa would have launched into an energetic explanation of what she was doing. "What's the project?" she asked, getting up and examining one of the cases. It was locked. "It's complicated, maybe I'll tell you later." She sighed. "I have some work to do so can you maybe go and come back some other time?" she asked, examining her working goggles and making adjustments. Haley was stunned. Vanessa had done it politely but she had still asked her to leave the lab. She had never done that before. "Look, Van, if something's wrong you can tell me." She urged. Vanessa shot around glaring at her friend, "If!? If!? There's no _if _involved, everything is wrong!" she realized that she was looming over her friend, who looked shocked. She forced herself to calm down and returned to her work. "Please, just go." She asked quietly. Haley took a moment to regain her composure and realized her friend needed to be alone. She felt a vague resentment at her friends lashing out, but she knew she was going through a hard time and started to leave. "Okay Van, I'll come back in a few days," she said from the door, "But please remember, you don't have to go through this alone." She finished, and with that she left. After a few moments, she got up and walked over and unlocked the briefcase Haley had been examining. "I'm sorry Haley, but I do." She whispered, pulling out a skintight black jumpsuit and a mask.

Haley didn't see her friend for a week. She had met up with Vanessa' brother Eric, who had managed to come in and check on her for a few days before a major meeting in China. He said that Vanessa had been holed up in the church almost the entire time. He decided to give her some space and urged Haley to do the same. "She just needs some time to sort through what she's feeling. When she's ready to talk, she'll talk." It wasn't until Saturday, when she checked the newspapers to see if there was any news on Ozmandias. She read it when she got home, and though there was no news on him directly, there was a report that mentioned him.

_Over the past several nights, an unknown vigilante with powers similar to _

_Spider-man has been reported to be assaulting various mobsters and questioning them on the whereabouts of the known hit-man and serial killer Ozmandias. According to eye witness accounts, the vigilante fights using some form of retractable rope to-_

Haley accidentally crushed the paper in her fists as she realized who she was reading about. "Oh God Vanessa why are you doing this to me?" she growled to herself. "I'm going to visit Vanessa mom I'll be back later!" she yelled as she put her shoes on and ran out the door.

She got to the building and swiped her card to go to the Church. She stormed into the house of mind. She wasn't there and so she ran into the house of body. "Vanessa! Whatever you think you're doing, stop! Please!" she stopped in shock as she saw a dark figure climbing out of one of the windows. "What are you doing here?!" she snapped, pulling back from the window. "I told you to stay away!"

"Yeah, well forgive me if I can't do that after reading about my best friend interrogating mobsters at night-and what are you wearing?!" Vanessa was in a pitch black bodysuit and boots. She had a mask made of the same material and mirrored black goggles. She was also wearing the gauntlets. She pulled off the mask and goggles revealing her sneering face. "It's none of your business what I'm wearing or what I'm doing!" she snarled.

"I already _know _what you're doing!You're trying to find Ozmandias by shaking down mobsters. I don't even know where to begin with why that's a bad idea!" Vanessa stormed up to her irately, "why? I'm already stronger than them anyway so what's the problem?" she said.

"'what's the problem?' how about the fact that you're going after murderers? That you're swinging around a hundred feet in the air on some grappling hooks? Or that you're fighting mobsters _with _those grappling hooks? You're going to get yourself killed, and for what?" Vanessa was insulted that her friend felt she had to ask such a question. "Why? Because I have to! because I have the power to stop Ozmandias from hurting anyone else and it would be wrong of me to just sit back and do nothing!"

"Is that what you've been telling yourself? This isn't about anyone else but you! You want revenge and you're justifying it by saying it's to keep him from hurting more people."

"So what if that's true? How would you feel if the man who ripped your life apart was going around free while you could stop him?" she put her goggles and mask back on and turned to the window. "I'm doing this, so if you don't want to help me then get out." She said quietly. Haley took a deep breath, her course of action clear. "Then how can I help?" Vanessa stopped again, turning around in shock at her friend. "You want to help?" she asked in bewilderment. "No," she said grumpily, "what I _want _is for you to realize how stupid this is. But more importantly, I don't want my best friend going through this alone." Vanessa was silent. She knew that Haley disapproved, but the fact that she was still willing to help meant the world to her. It made her feel a little better, a little less angry. "Thank you. I'm not sure how you can help tonight but come over tomorrow and we can talk." Haley nodded, "Sure, but before you leave; what's your name?" Vanessa raised an eyebrow beneath her mask, "what do you mean 'what's my name?'"

"Your super hero name. You know like spider-man or The Hulk. Something for the newspapers to call you." Vanessa leaned against window contemplatively. "I really haven't thought about it much," she said, "but how about 'The Crawler?' it's cool and pretty intimidating."

"Sure, that'll work. Good luck out there. Stay safe." Haley said quietly.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, Crawler, out." And with that, she leaped out of the window and swung from building to building. Haley looked out the window, worrying about her friend. She had agreed to help because she wanted to protect her, but there was another reason. Ever since the day her parents died, there was a darkness in Vanessa. Haley knew that Vanessa was angry about it, but the darkness went deeper than anger. She hadn't noticed it when they were younger, but as they grew up Haley saw it come out. The darkness was too deep to ever be truly overcome, only held in. it was the kind of darkness that set itself in your bones, that lay quietly in wait until it found a chance to show itself. She knew that Vanessa needed someone beside her to keep her from losing herself to that darkness, because ever since that day, the day that everything changed, her kind, funny, generous best friend was capable of horrible things, and she would do everything in her power to keep her from crossing that line.


	4. Night of the Crawler

Vanessa still didn't come to school the next day. Haley spent the entire day worrying about her. After science, Peter Parker stopped her to talk. "Uh, hey, Haley."

"Yeah Mr. Parker?" she asked absently, wanting to get to Vanessa as soon as she could. "Hey, I just wanted to know if you knew how Vanessa was doing, I heard about this business with Ozmandias and she's been gone for the past two weeks." Haley looked at her teacher, she felt comfortable around him, she felt like he was the kind of person you could trust, but he also seemed like he was a little fragile; the news of a girl swinging around in tights would be too much for him to take. "Uh, yeah, she's doing okay. I'll try and convince her to come back to school today." Peter nodded, "Yeah, that's good to hear. Tell her that I said hi."

"I will." She said as she jogged out of school. She was just out the front doors when Lily and her minions stepped in front of her. "Why the rush? Going to meet your girlfriend?" she asked cruelly. Haley snarled, angry at the interruption. "Can we do this later Lily, I've got to get going."

"No need to rush, I'm sure that dyke of yours is still going to be a sad little freak when you get to her." Haley clenched her jaw, Lily's homophobic remarks stinging her more than usual. "Look bitch, I'm not in the mood for this, my friend needs me. Now I don't want to punch you, but keep talking and that _will _change." She threatened. Lily stepped out of the way, "okay then grumpy, go see your little friend, but I want you to know, she _deserves _to be in her house crying like a baby." Haley started running, knowing that if she didn't leave immediately, she would do something she regretted. Someday Lily would get what's coming to her.

She finally got to the apartment and rushed up to the church to find that Vanessa was still there in her Crawler outfit. "Hey Hales, I've been waiting for you." She said, sounding more-or-less normal. Come on, I've something to show you." She said as she walked to the house of mind.

"What do you want to-" she started, stopping mid sentence as she walked into the lab. There was a brand new computer taking up the back wall. There was a massive touch screen above a complicated looking keyboard. She picked her jaw up from the floor and looked to her friend. "Is that…" Vanessa grinned and nodded, glad to see her friends awe. "And I get to…" another nod. She looked between the computer and her friend for several moments. "I love you Vanessa Thorne, and I want to have your babies." She said as she strode to touch the keyboard. "Maybe later," she chuckled, "for now, let me show you how this puppy works." And with that, she started explaining the computers features. It was a top of the line product of Thorne industries crime-stopping technologies, it was capable of running DNA scans, finger print analysis, and as it was part of the series donated to several police stations in new York, it was connected to the police database as well as a police scanner. She had also arranged for the computer to be directly connected to several newspapers across the city. This meant she had access to an incredible range of information. As she explained this to Haley, her friend looked like she was getting closer to passing out. "What I want is for you to stay here and use this to feed me info." She further explained "I'll be going out with a communicator from now on so we'll be able to communicate. I ordered it so that I could check any leads I found when I got back for the night, but having someone else to help me will mean I can follow my leads without as many delays." At this, Haley felt her enthusiasm wane. She was still unhappy about her friends choice, but this meant that she could keep an eye on her friend directly. "Sure," she said, sitting in the chair, "where do I start?" she asked. Vanessa pulled on her mask and started for the door. "While I was out last week, I heard some talk about a deal going down in Brooklyn. I'm going to check it out and see if there's anyone who might know where I can find Ozmandias. Can you check the database for any details, I don't wanna go in blind if I can avoid it." "Sure, I'll do what I can. Good luck out there."

"Thanks. And thanks for helping, this means a lot to me." They said no more after that, and Vanessa went to the window she had left from the other night. She took a running start before jumping, soaring out the window and into the open air. She let herself freefall for a few moments, enjoying the rush of the fall before launching one of her bolas from its socket to grasp the buildings wall. She swung to the next building, doing a back flip as she did. She relished the feeling of streaking through the air, it made her feel alive. "How's the weather up there?" Haley asked. "It's amazing! You have to try it sometime!" she laughed, allowing herself a moments joy. "By the way, Mr. Parker asked me to say hi, he's worried about you." Vanessa smiled.

"That's sweet, I told you he's awesome."

"No doubt."

Vanessa swung from building to building on the way to Brooklyn. She got there in a half-hour and perched on a roof to take stock of her situation. "Any luck Hales? I know the address but any extra info will help." On the other side of the line Haley examined some police reports. "It looks like cops suspect drug deal's going down but there isn't enough time to set up a proper sting. It's between some kind of Columbian drug lord and one of the local gangs. The gangs leader is going to be there himself, so there's bound to be guns and a lot of security. I really think you should let the police handle it Van." Vanessa scowled beneath her mask, "if I let them handle it then I won't get a chance to question anyone. I can handle this; Spider-Man busts drug deals all the time."

"Yeah, but he has _superpowers _and years of experience on you. All you've got are some fancy toys."

"That'll be enough." She assured her friend, switching her eyes to night vision as it started getting dark. "I've been doing this for two weeks, I've got enough experience to bust up some small time drug deal. Besides, you tip off the cops and they'll be there in time to mop up the mess and make arrests; all I've got to do is grab the leader and get him out of the way so I can question him." Haley started protesting further, but Vanessa stopped listening when she spotted a woman being mugged. She lept across the rooftops and jumped down behind the attacker. "Peek-a-boo!" she chided. "Yo! You better back off before I cut you!" she yelled, brandishing his knife. She stepped back pretending to be terrified, guarding her face with her arms. "Oh no! you've found my weakness, small, insignificant looking knives! Please anything but that! Sucker!" she yelled as she launched a bolo at the mans ribs and snapping it back, kicking him in the side and knocking him out with a straight jab between the eyes. She picked up the purse from the muggers unconscious form and handed it back to the terrified woman. "There you go Miss. Are you alright?" The woman looked at her in a mixture of shock and bewilderment. "Y-yes, thank you. Who are you?" she asked shakily. "I'm new on the scene-The Crawler. Spread the word, I'm here to help." And with that, she launched a bolo and swung away.

"That was awesome!" Vanessa yelled in excitement.

"I know! You totally layed him out flat!" Haley agreed. They chattered on about it for a few minutes before Vanessa arrived at the target building, once again all buisnes. She switched back to night-vision and zoomed in with her goggles. There were about six people inside. "I've got about half a dozen people in there, have you put out the call to the cops yet?"

"I'm on it right now, they should be there in about fifteen minutes. Work fast." Vanessa hooked one of the bolos to the roofs ledge. "You're going to need a plan of attack you know." Haley pointed out.

"I have a plan," she said as she swung down and crashed through the window, "attack." The people around her looked shocked for a moment and she took the moment to take the lead. She launched her bolos, knocking out two guards. The others got their wits back and started to pull their guns. She swung up to the roof, hiding in the darkness. They shot blindly as she crawled out of the way. She nearly screamed as a bullet grazed her leg. She clenched her teeth, her head exploding with pain. She swiftly spotted the electrical cables for the lights and used a bolo to slice it. The room was plunged into darkness. She flipped back to night vision and repelled down to the floor and took down another guard, jumping out of the way as more bullets started flying. She made her way around cautiously, wincing as each step sent a surge of pain through her leg. "Come on you freak! Get out here and show yer ugly mug!" she said, "Why? So you can shoot me?" as she swung around behind them while they peppered the spot she had been standing in with bullets. She hit one of them with her bolo and swiftly closed in on the other one, disarming him and punching him in the throat. While he was reeling, she slung him over her shoulder and crawled out and onto the roof. "What are you doing?" he wheezed, still clutching his throat. "Threatening you." She said matter-of-factly as she grabbed him by the ankle and dangled him over the side of the roof. "Bwaah!" he screamed. "What do you want!?"

"I want Ozmandias. I know he has ties with the mob, I want to know what you have to add to that. And be advised, if you lie, I can't be sure my grip will hold out."

"Van, what are you doing?" Haley asked cautiously. Vanessa didn't answer. "I don't know nothin' 'bout no Ozmandias!" the man screamed desperately. She let him slide slightly from her grip. "I don't like that news, got anything better?" She asked bitterly. "Okay! Okay! I-I heard that he was gonna work a few jobs for the Fortunato family! It's only a rumor but it's all I got!" he panted.

"Are you sure?" she asked, letting him slip a little more.

"Yes! I'm sure! I'm sure!" Vanessa pulled him up and tossed him aside. She strode over to him and found that he had gone unconscious from the shock. She heard the distant wail of sirens as she dragged the man back down. she then proceeded to swing her way back home. "Okay Haley, I'm on my way back." She said.

"Were you really going to drop him?" Haley asked sternly. Vanessa was slightly taken aback at her friends abruptness. "Of course not! It was just a bluff. And it worked too-now we know to look into the Fortunato's." Haley remained silent for a long time. She hated thinking ill of her best friend, but it was clear that she was going off the rails. It was slow, but it was definitely happening. And it was scaring her.


End file.
